Homophobia in Iran
Iran is notoriously known for having oppressive laws and policies on the LGBTQ+ community that punish same-sex practices by flogging, incarceration, and capital punishment, and thus violating the most basic human rights. Homophobic rhetoric has been ingrained in political discourses, with powerful political leaders setting the tone of what is and is not tolerated in the nation. In 2007, President Ahmadinejad claimed that “In Iran, we don’t have Homosexuals like you do in [America]” (James, 2019). Despite such heavy dogmatic proclamations against LGBTQ+ people, in 1986, the theocracy’s very founder and the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a religious decree not only recognizing transgender people, but officially favouring state subsidies for Gender-confirmation surgeries (GCS). In fact, the country has the second highest number of GCS per year, following Thailand (Jerusalem Post Staff, 2020). The disparity between gay rights, or lack thereof, and the unique policies supporting state-funded subsidies for Trans people, is however, not an accident. This article will explore how the Iranian government has masked their political regulation of trans bodies and gatekeeping to basic rights and freedoms as a façade of rights and financial support, which does nothing but give themselves easier control in this system of suppression. One of the contradictions surrounding LGBT life in Iran, is that homosexuals are granted military exemption on the basis that they are mentally ill which will prevent them from doing official work.
The report acknowledges that Decriminalisation of homosexuality would not necessarily mean an end to LGBT discrimination. "LGBT issues are particularly taboo and are seldom discussed in Iran's public sphere," it said. "Even if Iran decriminalised homosexuality, it could take decades for it to become socially acceptable in the Islamic Republic of Iran." This also exists within the regime with officials often confusing consensual intercourse with rape.
In cases when an execution involving sodomy charges is reported, it's difficult to find out whether the convicts were engaged in consensual sex or whether it has been a rape issue. LGBT Iranians have also fallen victim to the confusion within the Iranian society in regards to differences between being a homosexual and transsexual. Transsexuality was legalised in Iran in 1987. Yet the report warns that, despite state support for sex-change operations, "the social stigma attached to transsexualism is unwavering and transphobic abuse remains prevalent". It goes on: "Still very much ostracised, transsexual Iranians do not enjoy a privileged status in society."
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